Electronic content communicated over the Internet and other networks may be considered to have a security profile. The security profile may contain metadata related to a security level, for example, from a high-level of security to non-secure. The security profile would typically provide metadata related to security-related functions, such as to retain confidentiality, integrity, and authentication for the transmitted data, among other goals.
Electronic content is often composed of a number of elements. Like the electronic content, these elements may also have an associated security profile. Further, an element may be, for example, a link to other electronic content with its own security profile. Problems may arise when there is incompatibility between the security profile of the electronic content and the security profile of the elements therein, typically when the electronic content has a high security level while the elements therein have lower security levels, or vice versa. For example, a user may be lead to believe that because the electronic content he is viewing is highly secure, the elements included therein are also secure; when in actuality, at least a portion of the elements may not be secure.
Conventionally, security profile incompatibility between the electronic content and the elements therein may be handled by merely transmitting both the secure and non-secure elements, by only transmitting the secure elements and simply not transmitting any non-secure elements, or lastly, the user may be asked if the user would also like to view the unsecure elements. Each of these options can create problems in terms of security or user experience.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a method and system for managing security compatibility of electronic content that mitigates at least one disadvantage of previous methods and systems.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.